Of teeny-tiny puppies* and video game violence
There is a violent video game that has everybody talking, even NPR. Nearly every day since its release, I have gone to bed to the sound of gunfire. The game is Halo 2. The gunfire is my warm woolen blanket.

Last night, I watched a few rounds of Reuben, Aaron, Brian, and Sheng play online together in real time. They communicated via headsets. After watching them lose a few rounds to the likes of, well everybody, I called it a night. As I was going to my room a chorus of good nights came from the TV speakers. In the wild interactive world of Halo 2, there are certain screens where everyone is in the "room" together. It was oddly comforting to have people across the city and from across the country wishing me good night. I hope from that point they went on to kill, kill, kill.

***In an aside, I think a great team name or individual name in Halo 2 would be teeny tiny puppies. That way the screen would say,"Aaron killed by teeny tiny puppies," or "teeny tiny puppies sniped by Brian," or "teeny tiny puppies beats down Reuben". I think you see where I'm going with this. "Your mom" would also work well, but I bet some one already thought of that. I would also like to suggest Vegetables, glass dolls, underwear and Satin.